Solution to an aging mirror edge

We have lived in the same wonderful small house for 29 years. To make it look bigger, we had floor-to-ceiling mirrors installed in several rooms when we first moved in. In the words of folks on HGTV House-Hunters …. “so 80s.”

The house does look a lot bigger, but 29 years has taken its toll on the mirror edges … black irregular wear.

BEFORE

I had called a glazier to see how much it would cost to cover the edges… well over$ 200 just for one room with 8′ ceilings. Nope.

SOLUTION BACKGROUND

When I was working on the embroidered Nativity SceneI had thought about buying grosgrain at Joann’s for the window pane lines on the squares, that is until I saw the price only 6 YARDS for $1.99. So I naturally went online to compare and found a wonderful site Gifts Internationalwhere I got 50 YARDS of 1/4″ black grosgrain for $1.40. They have many other sizes and colors, and I’ve included a listing of their other products too. Click on it to go to their home page. (and no, I’m not getting paid by them, just sharing a great find).

BACK TO MY MIRRORS ….

In trying to think of how to easily do the edges, the grosgrain from my embroidery project came to mind. Next step was … how to put it up.

My Scrapbooking supplies to the rescue

I have been doing scrapbooking for over 11 years with a great Creative Memories consultant. One of the products I’ve really liked is their Photo Tape. I used it mostly to add additional pages as wings to a two-page scrapbook layout to make 3 or 4 page layouts. The tape is 1/4″ wide and is very, very strong. I find myself using it for a lot of other home projects too.

Ask your CM Consultant – Photo Tape Item # 631469

and if you don’t have one, go here Creative Memories CM ID # 53631530 (I love my CM consultant!!!) Everything is done on-line and shipped directly to you, so it doesn’t matter where she lives. By the way, she reads my blogs.

The tape has a paper backing so it was easy to position on the mirror edge.

Tip: The paper backing is wider than the tape, so experiment on a lower area with a small piece of tape and ribbon (you can take it back off.)

Tip: Start at the top when you are ready to do the real thing.

Tip: Straighten it as you go. Since it was exactly the same width as the ribbon, it was very obvious when it had gotten askew. (learned the hard way).

Now you have a strip of protected tape down the entire mirror edge (or where 2 mirrors come together).

The Ribbon

Starting at the top, I then pulled the paper backing off (very easy) as I positioned the grosgrain ribbon on the tape. Again, carefully to get it straight. It was easy to check it as I went along and pull it off to reposition it.

BEFORE

AFTER

(No I didn’t paint the wall in between pictures … I forgot to take the Before picture of the same side of the mirror the After picture is of.)

I waited a couple of months after doing the first one to be sure it would stay up even in Florida heat and humidity. It did and I just completed the second strip.

How have you repurposed something recently. A fellow blogger, pillowsalamode is an expert at repurposing and upcycling.

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“He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. . . The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. – Psalm 121:3-5 (NLT)

Thanks for your comments Cathy. I got so busy with other stuff, the blog just kind of got into the lower levels of my to-do list. And since I wash;t getting very many hits, so decided my time was better used in actually DOING things rather than writing about them.

Liz J Fox – Serial Hobbyist

I love the Lord. And love to go from hobby to hobby, learning, buying, organizing, buying more, buying new organizing stuff ... oh yes ... doing. Repeat. You will be seeing some of them in this blog, like rock painting, quilling, teabag folding, iris folding, cards, etc. I may not be great at any of them, but sure have a lot of fun. By the way, the cat in the header is a rock!